Every time Missouri’s football season reaches a lull — like an upcoming date with SEMO, Bye or Vanderbilt — talk turns to the end game. Will this season finish on Black Friday in Little Rock or somewhere more exotic down the line?

I equate this situation to a large group of people standing cross-legged outside a public bathroom while the person inside primps, flosses and checks email. There is an urgency imbalance.

It took me five minutes after reading the NCAA infractions report on Jan. 31 to decide Missouri’s punishment was too much. The subsequent ruling against Mississippi State — no postseason ban despite a similar academic fraud offense — made it obvious to neutral observers that Missouri’s penalty went overboard. That doesn’t mean this particular NCAA appeals committee will agree, and it certainly doesn’t mean the committee is in a hurry to decide.

We are three months out, and still no smoke from the Vatican.